White whale Migaloo spotted off far north Qld

Migaloo has been spotted several times off far north Qld during the past week.

Qld Environmental Protection Agency - file image

Some Great Barrier Reef visitors in far north Queensland have been treated to a close encounter with the famous white whale Migaloo.

The distinctive humpback whale has been spotted several times during the past week.

Photographer Tom Fone says he was thrilled to have a 20-minute encounter with Migaloo near Opal Reef.

He says Migaloo surfaced several times and swam underneath the boat he was working on yesterday off the coast of Port Douglas.

"I saw Migaloo about 10 years ago luckily but ... we've been seeing humpback whales pretty much every day for the last three or four weeks now, so pretty special time of year for us," he said.

"We were at a standstill, he swam towards us, not breaching but just coming up for air a couple of times and then literally swam underneath the back of the boat ... under no stress or anything like that but just swam across the back of us."